


Dragged All Over

by Vidriana



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Escaping Heart, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Misunderstanding, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 04:22:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12880098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vidriana/pseuds/Vidriana
Summary: It’s sitting in Zach’s helmet and almost falls to the floor when he goes to take it out of his locker. He manages to catch it just in time, cradling it in both hands. The small, familiar shape in his palms pulses rhythmically, in time with Willy’s actual heartbeat, and Zach sighs, resigned.Zach keeps finding Willy's heart. He's not sure what that means.





	Dragged All Over

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forwardpass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forwardpass/gifts).



> Dear forwardpass,
> 
> thank you for requesting a pairing I've been meanig to write for a really long time! And with a dynamic I absolutely adore! I hope you enjoy this little, slightly magical fic!
> 
> Title is from "Modern Romance" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Thousand thanks, as always, to my wonderful beta

It’s sitting in Zach’s helmet and almost falls to the floor when he goes to take it out of his locker. He manages to catch it just in time, cradling it in both hands. The small, familiar shape in his palms pulses rhythmically, in time with Willy’s actual heartbeat, and Zach sighs, resigned.

Willy’s heart is warm and Zach can’t help but think that it feels happy as he brushes his fingers gently across the soft surface, before carefully tucking it into his bag, making sure it’s safe and hidden underneath his favorite sweater. He pulls the zipper shut and puts on his helmet.

He can’t help but look around the room as he walks out, wondering which one of the guys it is this time that made Willy lose his heart. 

After practice, he grabs Willy’s arm, still sweaty and half-dressed pulls him over to his locker. “You need to be more careful,” Zach starts, opening his bag to pull out Willy’s heart. “You can’t just leave it lying around all the time.”

Willy shuffles uncomfortable, looking at his heart in Zach’s hands. “Thanks for, you know, taking care of it,” he says, not quite meeting Zach’s eyes. Zach sighs, slightly exasperated.

“I know you can’t help it, but you’re gonna end up getting hurt if you keep this up,” he says, handing the heart back to Willy, who protectively clutches it to his chest right away.

“I know. I’m trying to stop it, I just…” He trails off, sounding helpless and Zach instantly feels bad.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t— I mean, I don’t mind finding it, I’m just worried about what happens if other people do, you know?” The smile Willy gives him looks a bit watery, but that might just be the lighting.

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” he says cryptically, before gently tucking his heart into the pocket of his hoodie. “Anyway, thanks for not being a dick about this.” And then he’s gone, bounding back over to where Brownie is giving him a complicated look, and Zach is left with the distinct impression that he fucked up in some way.

————— 

Zach had always thought the idea of literally losing your heart when you meet the love of your life, of your heart actively seeking out the person you’re meant to be with, was very romantic. Even later, when he realized that it doesn’t actually take that one specific person to make your heart leave your chest, he’d still thought the physical proof that someone loved you was really sweet.

Of course, that was until he met Willy. 

The first time Zach had seen it happen, they’d also been at practice. He’d been the one helping pick up pucks at the end, since he was the new guy on the team. It had just been lying there, tangled up in the net in the midst of some discarded pucks. 

For a moment all Zach had been able to do was stare at the lightly glowing heart, unsure what to do about it. He knew the protocol if a heart wanders to you, how you’re supposed to pick it up and see if it feels familiar before returning it to its owner. He had no idea what to do with a lost heart, though.

In the end, he’d carefully freed it from the netting and picked it up as gently as he could, marvelling at the warmth of it, the low, buzzing feeling of happiness, and the irrefutable knowledge that the heart belonged to Willy.

Zach couldn’t help but be disappointed. Willy was exactly the kind of person that would lose his heart to hockey, and accidentally leave it behind on the ice. He put the heart in his pocket and returned it as soon as he could, not wanting to keep it from Willy for longer than necessary. 

In retrospect it’s even less surprising that Willy had lost his heart at a practice rink, especially given how often he lost it in general. There had been the incident at the restaurant, Willy and Sosh were already heading for the door when Zach had noticed Willy’s heart still lying at their table. He’d spent the rest of the night trying to think back to whether their waiter had been particularly attractive, or if he’d seen Willy interact with anyone else.

One time Willy had been talking to a pretty girl in a bar, when Zach had suddenly noticed his heart in the booth next to him. He remembers pulling it into his lap and holding on to it the whole evening, until Willy had finally returned to their table.

Still, it had taken finding Willy’s heart in his shopping cart, while they were out getting groceries together, to finally acknowledge to himself that Willy just fell in love with random strangers all the time. In hindsight, hockey had probably been his least surprising love.

Zach had tried talking to Brownie about it once, had asked him who’d been the one making sure Willy didn’t just leave his heart behind on a road trip, or in a hotel somewhere, before Zach was on the team. Brownie had just looked at him for a long moment and then changed the subject abruptly, so Zach figured this wasn’t something the team talked about.

————— 

It’s cold in the parking garage, and Zach hurries to get to his car. He’s distracted when he starts the car, turning on the heat and throwing his coat in the back, so he doesn’t notice the soft glow coming from his passenger seat until he’s almost home. He sighs. Twice in one day. Wonderful. 

He briefly debates turning around, driving over to Willy’s place to return it, but it’s been a long day and Zach is hungry. Instead he texts Willy as soon as he opens his front door. _Found your heart again. Wanna come get it?_ He stares down at the message for a second, before adding _Also, we could hang out if you want._ _I got food._

Willy responds _On my way_ almost instantly. Zach smiles down at his phone, before taking out Willy’s heart and putting it on his couch. He makes sure it’s comfortable and not in any danger of falling off, before heading to the kitchen and setting out some pots and pans.

He’s chopping up some potatoes when the glow catches his attention again. Right there on the counter, just a foot or so away from Zach, is Willy’s heart. He frowns, glancing over at the empty couch. “What are you doing here?” The heart just pulses gently.

This isn’t supposed to happen. Once they’ve escaped, hearts aren’t supposed to move unless they’re moving closer to— 

“Oh,” Zach says, very quietly, in the empty room. There’s a realization blooming in the back of his mind, but he can’t quite wrap his thoughts around it. 

Willy’s heart was in his car, even though there wasn’t anyone else in the parking lot. Willy’s heart is on Zach’s counter, even though he’s the only one in this apartment. No one else on the team had ever randomly found Willy’s heart anywhere, as far as Zach knows, and suddenly Willy’s comment about Zach always being the one to find it makes a lot more sense.

Zach’s own heart gives a painful thud and his chest feels strangely empty. There’s a not-insubstantial possibility that Willy is in love with him. Has been in love with him for a while. Years, even.

It had been so obvious. Right there for everyone to see, and Zach didn’t—

There’s a knock on the door and when Zach opens it, Willy is standing there, holding a heart close to his chest. “It just appeared,” he stutters. “While I was driving over. Popped up right on the console. I didn’t know what to do with it, but— I mean, it feels like you.” The last part is almost said in a whisper and Zach can see Willy’s fingers tighten around the heart some more when he says it.

“Now you know how I feel,” he tries to joke, but Willy doesn’t really lose the frantic look in his eyes.

“I don’t know what this means,” Willy says, his eyes still wide, and Zach knows what he has to do.

“I didn’t either,” Zach confesses. “I didn’t realize— I thought it was other people, I didn’t think you… I just thought you fall in love a lot.” 

Willy looks confused. “It’s never happened before I met you. I really freaked out the first time. Do you remember? After one of our first practices together?” Zach nods “But then you let me down easy when you gave it back, and made some dumb joke about me loving hockey so much, and it was okay. I thought that was it, but it just— it kept happening. I don’t know how to stop it.”

Zach’s chest feels tight. “I wasn’t— I didn’t let you down easy, I just— didn’t get it. I genuinely thought…” He can feel his face go hot, but the awed expression spreading across Willy’s face is worth the embarrassment. “I wouldn’t have let you down if I’d known what you were asking.”

Willy’s eyes are soft and hopeful in a way that Zach has never seen before. “Does this mean— Do you maybe want to—” He breaks off, seeming unsure of what he even wants to ask.

“You’re literally holding my heart in your hands,” Zach says with a smile. “I’m pretty sure I want whatever you want.”

In retrospect, Zach may have been an idiot, but none of that matters when Willy gently, hesitantly, pulls him into a kiss.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed these soft idiots in love as much as I did!
> 
> If you wanna talk about anything relating to the story, please leave me a comment or feel free to come talk to me on my [writing Tumblr](https://vidrianawrites.tumblr.com/)!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Dragged All Over](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13647015) by [ofjustimagine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofjustimagine/pseuds/ofjustimagine)




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